History of Administration in US
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History of Administration
in the U.S.
Important Terms / Concepts / Topics
Changing population of central cities, suburbs, rural areas
Rural vs. Urban differences in government services
Industrial Revolution, Business Trusts, Teddy Roosevelt
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
Woodrow Wilson, Politics-Administration Dichotomy
Sources of Bureau Influence
Bureaucratic Accountability and Responsibility
Principal-Agent Problem
Fiscal, Process, and Program Accountability
Efficiency, Effectiveness, Democratic Responsiveness
Exit, Voice, and Loyalty.
Large Government Organizations are recent
Tribes
City States – Athens, Venice, etc.
A few large empires
Egypt, Rome, Chin Dynasty (China)
Nation States began after dark ages
about 1400+
Most Administration was Ad Hoc
Tax collection
Military Forces
Crusades
Industrial Revolution & Growth of Cities
Created need for continuous government services
Sewer
Water
Transportation
Law enforcement and corrections
Judges
Two American Epochs
1. Emphasize Democracy and Liberty
From Founding to @ 1900
2. Renewed focus on governing well
1900 to the present
Emphasis on Democracy & Liberty
Founding to @ 1900
1 Fear of centralized power
Experience with rules made by King George and the Parliament in London
2. Fear Executives, Trust Legislatures
History of Administration in US
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Colonial governors represented king
Colonial legislatures represented colonists
FIRST CHOICES – CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
AND ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
Continental Congress, 1776-1781
Adopted Declaration of Independence
Selected Washington to be Commander in Chief of Joint forces
Adopted Articles of Confederation in 1777
Continued as national congress under Articles
Little national power, most held by states
No power to tax
Semi-parliamentary
Rule by committee (Congress)
No chief executive
States Also
The constitutions of most states created very weak governorships
Legislative bodies
Make the rules
Executive bodies
President, governors, mayors
Implement the rules
US Constitution, Article II: “The president shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed”
Executives are administration
Interest in Governing Well, 1900+
Growth of cities
Rise of Professional European militaries
Vast Corruption in Government
BUT . . . .
Does more and better administration
Mean a more tyrannical government?
Woodrow Wilson:
Politics-Administration Dichotomy
We can separate administration and politics
We can copy the techniques of effective administration from European bureaucracies
While maintaining our democratic system to adopt policies
If I see an evil fellow sharpening his knife in a novel, effective, and clever fashion,
I can borrow his method of sharpening his knife
Without also borrowing his intent to do evil.
Democratic politics will determine WHAT we do
Bureaucratic administration will allow us to do it in the most effective and efficient way possible.
History of Administration in US
BUT ADMINISTRATION IS POLITICS
A clever argument
But it is impossible to separate politics
-- the values and goals of the administrator
From decisions on implementing policies
Political and administrative leaders are different
Elected officials – legislators and executives – are political leaders, not managers.
The roles and skills are different
Political leaders: campaign, speak to citizen desires, symbolically represent those desires
Administrators – experts in their fields, good managers
The Power of Bureaucracies and Bureaucrats
Public agencies derive their power from three resources:
Expertise
Size and stability
Administrative authority
Expertise
Expertise derives from the technical knowledge and skills wielded by public bureaucrats.
Presidents and members of Congress must defer to the expertise of bureaucrats
Write the language of laws and programs in rather broad terms
Administrators fill in the details
What animals are endangered?
Which medical procedures are necessary and covered by Medicare?
When should bridges be replaced rather than repaired and how much will it cost?
Does hiring more teachers, building modern classrooms improve student performance?
Size and Stability as Power
Public bureaucracy is large
Public administrators serve in office much longer than most elected officials.
They may be the old hands facing an inexperienced president or governor
They know how programs work, what has been tried before, and where the bodies are buried.
Administrative Authority
Bureaucratic experts give advice to elected leaders as they develop policy
Congress often delegates authority to agencies
EPA – what is hazardous / dangerous
OSHA – what is safe
SO . . . . . Politics and Administration cannot be separated
Health Commissioner:
Combat Aids by giving free needles to addicts
Worker taxes to buy government autos:
Fords or less expensive and more reliable Toyotas made in Japan?
“War is too important to be left to the generals.”
Georges Clemenceau
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History of Administration in US
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If administration = politics:
Non-elected bureaucrats are making many important policy decisions
How does this square with a democracy?
Might not these powerful, non-elected bureaucrats abuse power?
Bureaucratic Accountability and Responsibility
Accountability:
faithful obedience to the law,
to higher officials’ directions,
and to standards of efficiency and economy
Also referred to as
The Principal-Agent Problem
Max Weber
The rise of bureaucracy
The dilettante prince
Facing the professional administrator
Principal-Agent
Principal – the boss –Cannot do everything
Hires agent and gives instructions.
How do you know if the agent is following your directives
Or pursuing goals of his / her own?
Approaches to Accountability
Friedrich – Finer Debate – 1940-41
Herman Finer
External controls are necessary
Even good people can go bad
Carl J. Friedrich
External controls don’t work
Rely on ethics, personal responsibility
One Person’s red tape
Is another person’s cherished procedural safeguard
Herbert Kaufman
“Quis costodiet ipsos custodies?”
(Who is to watch the watchers?”)
Roman satirist Juvenal
What to Control
Fiscal accountability: concerned with whether agency officials spend money on the programs they are
charged with managing and only on those programs
most widespread
Process accountability: concerned with how agencies perform their tasks
Program accountability: concerned with whether a public program has achieved its purpose as defined in
law
History of Administration in US
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Administrative Goals
Efficiency
Effectiveness
Responsiveness to democratic leaders
Ethical Behavior
Standards of ethics higher in the public sector than in the private sector
President George W. Bush labeled government employment / public service
“the highest and noblest calling.”
We are a government of laws, not of men.
Exit, Voice, and Loyalty
Albert O. Hirschmann, 1970
What do you do if your organization is doing something inefficiently, ineffectively, against democratic
wishes, corrupt?
Exit – leave quietly
Voice – speak out publicly
Loyalty – stay with the job, be a team player
Themes
What does government do
How does it do it
And how do we maximize bureaucratic accountability
And the multiple goals of efficiency, effectiveness, democracy / responsiveness
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